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ABSTRACT
This article summarizes concepts, methods, cross-cultural evidence, and implications of parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). The theory focuses primarily on parental love-its expressions, impact, and origins. Nearly 2,000 studies in the United States and cross-culturally confirm the widely held belief that children everywhere need acceptance (love) from parents and other attachment figures. Evidence has shown that when this need is not met, children worldwide-regardless of variations in culture, gender, age, or ethnicity-tend to self-report a specific form of psychological maladjustment. Additionally, individuals who perceive themselves to be rejected appear to be more disposed than accepted persons to develop behavior problems, depression or depressed affect, substance abuse, and other mental health-related issues. Finally, children and adults appear universally to organize their perceptions of acceptance-rejection around the same four classes of behavior. These include warmth/affection (or coldness/lack of affection), hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection. [acceptance, rejection, parenting, universals, mental health, cross-cultural]
The research program reported in this article was initiated almost four-and-a-half decades ago in response to claims by Western social scientists that parental love is essential to the healthy social and emotional development of children. After about 2,000 empirical studies, many inspired directly by parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) described in this article, the conclusion is clear: Children everywhere need a specific form of positive response-acceptance-from parents and other attachment figures. When this need is not met satisfactorily, children worldwideregardless of variations in culture, gender, age, ethnicity, or other such defining conditions-tend to report themselves to be hostile and aggressive, dependent or defensively independent, impaired in self-esteem and self-adequacy, emotionally unresponsive, emotionally unstable, and to have a negative worldview, among other responses. Additionally, youths and adults who perceive themselves to be rejected appear to be disposed toward behavior problems and conduct disorders, to be depressed or have depressed affect, and to become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, among other problems.
Evidence reported below suggests that as much as 26 percent of the variability of children's psychological adjustment can be accounted for by the degree to which children perceive themselves to be accepted or rejected by their major caregivers. In addition, as much as 21 percent of the variability in adults' psychological adjustment can be explained by childhood experiences of caregiver acceptance-rejection. Of course, these figures...